Earl D. Brechlin - Hiking Mount Desert Island: A Pocket Guide

Acadia National Park is a fee area. Although there is just one fee collection booth on the Park Loop Road, visitors are encouraged to pick up an entrance pass at locations throughout the park and in town. Passes are available for various time periods. Each November and December, annual passes, which include window stickers for two vehicles, go on sale for half price.

Part of the fees collected go to cover general park operations and also to support the Island Explorer. Both park campgrounds charge fees.

The Island Explorer is a free shuttle bus system that runs throughout the park and between various area towns. It is funded with entrance fees, government subsidies, and donations from corporations such as L.L. Bean, Friends of Acadia, and area communities.

The hub of the bus system is the Bar Harbor Village Green, where most routes intersect. Routes regularly stop at all campgrounds and hotels. Drivers will pull over if flagged down anywhere it is safe to stop.

The bus makes it possible for hikers to do point-to-point routes through Acadia without needing any car, much less two. The buses can carry bikes and there is even a special shuttle van with trailer that provides multiple trips daily between the Village Green and the north end of Eagle Lake, where several popular carrige roads are located.

Plans call for the Island Explorer to work from a new hub and visitor center at Crippen Creek in Trenton, where day-use visitors can leave their vehicles.

In winter, the park visitor center shifts operations to headquarters on Route 233.

Trailheads can be accessed from state roads that are plowed in the winter. Hiking is not restricted, although many steeper trails are too dangerous except for those with technical gear.

One lane of the parks Ocean Drive is kept plowed with access via the Schooner Head Road from Bar Harbor. The unplowed loop, including the Cadillac Mountain Summit Road, is open for hikers, snowshoers, cross-country skiers, and snow-mobilers. With a few exceptions, no motorized use, such as snowmobiles, is allowed on the 45 miles of carriage roads. All dogs must be kept on a leash shorter than six feet.

The Blackwoods Campground is officially closed, but walkin users with a permit can stay at a limited number of sites.

Volunteer cross-country-ski groomers from the Acadia Winter Trails Association, an arm of Friends of Acadia, do their best to keep 32 miles of carriage roads in top shape. Please dont walk or allow pets to damage the track. For the latest ski information visit:

nps.gov/acad/planyourvisit/crosscountryskiing.htm

Acadia Mountain

Latitude: 44.323413

Longitude: -68.321961

Bald Peak

Latitude: 44.33508

Longitude: -68.283349

Beech Mountain

Latitude: 44.310635

Longitude: -68.345017

Bernard Peak

Latitude: 44.302302

Longitude: -68.371962

Cadillac Mountain

Latitude: 44.352857

Longitude: -68.223902

Cedar Swamp Mountain

Latitude: 44.328413

Longitude: -68.275849

Champlain Mountain

Latitude: 44.350636

Longitude: -68.193068

Connors Nubble

Latitude: 44.355357

Longitue: -68.255293

Day Mountain

Latitude: 44.31008

Longitude: -68.231681

Dorr Mountain

Latitude: 44.354524

Longitude: -68.215569

Flying Mountain

Latitude: 44.303969

Longitude: -68.313628

Gorham Mountain

Latitude: 44.327302

Longitude: -68.191679

Great Head

Latitude: 44.328414

Longitude: -68.174178

Huguenot Head

Latitude: 44.353135

Longitude: -68.199457

Kebo Mountain

Latitude: 44.373413

Longitude: -68.218347

Mansell Mountain

Latitude: 44.306469

Longitude: -68.361407

North Bubble

Latitude: 44.344246

Longitude: -68.256682

Norumbega Mountain

Latitude: 44.324524

Longitude: -68.296405

Parkman Mountain

Latitude: 44.337857

Longitude: -68.28446

Pemetic Mountain

Latitude: 44.335913

Longitude: -68.245292

Penobscot Mountain

Latitude: 44.332858

Longitude: -68.26668

Sargent Mountain

Latitude: 44.34258

Longitude: -68.272793

South Bubble

Latitude: 44.338691

Longitude: -68.254182

The Beehive

Latitude: 44.333413

Longitude: -68.188345

Although many people long for the name Acadia to be connected with the story of Evangeline and the Acadian people made famous in Longfellows epic poem, the similarity ends at the French root. Acadia comes from the term LAcadie, the French version of an Indian word that means the place. La Cadie, as it was sometimes written, refers to the entire original French claim to North America.

Mount Desert Island was originally called Pemetic by the Native American Abnaki and means literally range of tall mountains. Many mountains on MDI have Native American names.

The name Mount Desert Island is credited to French explorer Samuel de Champlain, who, upon viewing the island from the sea in September 1604, wrote in his log, this island is very high and cleft into seven or eight mountains all in line. The summits of most of them are bare of trees, nothing but rock. Champlain named it lIsle des monts-dsertsliterally, Isle of Bare Mountains. Champlain was exploring the area under the auspices of French nobleman Sieur de Monts.

Most everyone knows Down East is in Maine and refers to the communities along the northeastern coast of Maine. But few understand why to go Down East you must go up the coast.

Although there are numerous explanations of the origin, the most satisfactory is that Down East is a seafaring term that had foundations in the fact that the prevailing wind is from the southwest. Therefore, sailboats going to Maine from the west and south sailed before the wind, an act described as running downhill because of the ease of sailing as compared to beating up against it, going to windward.

Thus, a sailing vessel bound for Maine would run before the wind and go downhill to the eastward, or, briefly, Down East.

Abrell, Diana. Pocket Guide to Carriage Roads of Acadia National Park 2nd Edition. Camden, Maine, Down East Books, 2011.

Brechlin, Earl. Bygone Bar Harbor. Camden, Maine, Down East Books, 2002.

Kendall, David L. Glaciers and Granite: A Guide to Maines Landscape and Geology. Unity, Maine, North Country Press, 1993.

Lenahan, Don. The Memorials of Acadia National Park. Bar Harbor, Maine, Published by the author, 2010.

Minutolo-Le, Audrey. Pocket Guide to Biking on Mount Desert Island 2nd Edition, Camden, Maine, Down East Books, 2012.

Newlin, William V.P.. Guide to the Lakes and Ponds of Mt. Desert. Camden, Down East Books, 1988.

ONeil, Gladys, and G.W. Helfrich. Lost Bar Harbor. Camden, Maine, Down East Books, 1986.

Roberts, Ann Rockefeller. Mr. Rockefellers Roads, Camden, Maine, Down East Books, 1990.

Local news/information: www.fenceviewer.com

Acadia National Park: www.nps.gov/acad

Friends of Acadia: www.friendsofacadia.org

Island Explorer: www.exploreacadia.com

Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce: www.barharborinfo.org

Maine Weather: www.maine.gov/mema/weather/weather.htm